Thai Lettuce Wraps

Hi everyone!

I've had these in the old recipe file for a while, just waiting for me to get around to them. So I suggested them the other night and the great BF helped me execute them beautifully! It's really easy and mostly a concept more than a specific recipe- you can change any vegetables out for any others, make your peanut sauce the way you like it, add other things, etc. So let's go!

Here's your fairly simple arsenal- I always include tortillas with wraps if you want to up your calorie content :)

The peanut sauce in progress...

And all of our ingredients ready to assemble, from chicken to veggies, noodles, and sauce.

Thai Lettuce Wraps
-Romaine lettuce
-chicken, cooked and chopped/shredded/etc.
-carrots
-cucumber
-bean sprouts
-ramen noodles, without the sauce packet
-Peanut Sauce
-Sriracha or other hot sauce
-optional: tortillas to wrap your wrap in! Very handy and tasty if you need to up your calorie or carb count!
Cut/peel the carrots and cucumber very thinly (see picture, I used a vegetable peeler).
Make your peanut sauce (look at the ingredients picture for some ideas, or you can buy some pre-maid sauce).
Cook your ramen noodles, drain.
Layer your chicken, veggies, noodles, and sauce into your lettuce shells and enjoy!!

Here is one of my finished but definitely not as beautiful wraps...

And here is one of the much more beautiful wraps the BF made- enjoy!

Savor it!
love, rue

Jalapeño Poppers

Hey everyone, this post is written by me, but all the work was done by the BF, so all credit to him for the idea and execution, start to finish!

So we were at the store and saw some frozen jalapeño poppers, but figured they were awfully expensive, so why not make his own? We already had cream cheese for stuffing, so we bought some jalapeños and bread for crumbs and below is the result!

Most of your ingredients- simple!

Your halved jalapeños and homemade breadcrumbs.

The stuffed jalapeños!

And here's your dredging setup, post-chilling.

Jalapeño Poppers
-jalapeños
-cream cheese, flavored, mixed, or otherwise, for filling
-breadcrumbs or bread for breadcrumbs (toast, then pulse in food processor)
-flour
-egg
-oil
Halve the jalapeños and de-seed and de-vein to your preference.
Fill with your choice of cream cheese based filling. Chill.
Put egg in one bowl, well beaten, flour in a second bowl, and bread crumbs in a third.
Dredge the stuffed jalapeños in egg, flour, egg, and breadcrumbs.
Heat your skillet over medium heat. Place your jalapeños, however many will fit without crowding at a time, in the pan and fry until browned nicely.
Place jalapeños on a baking sheet and bake at 350 F for 5-7 minutes.
Serve with jam or your choice of sauce!
(p.s. next time the BF says he will try baking the jalapeños before stuffing so you don’t need to bake at the end for them to be tender.)

Frying up the poppers- just don't let them go past brown to burnt!

And the finished product- enjoy!!

Savor it!
love, rue (and BF)

Cookie Butter Popcorn

Hi again everyone!

This stuff is delish. "Like crack" delicious. And, it's super easy to make- what did you expect? This is based on the Peanut Butter Popcorn recipe I blogged a long time ago, I just tweaked it slightly and it's incredible. And I literally just had the very dangerous idea of drizzling chocolate on it or throwing in some mini chocolate chips- danger danger! Let's go!

Your ingredients: popcorn, sugar, honey/corn syrup, cookie butter, vanilla, and salt.

After melting your sugar, honey, and corn syrup together, add your cookie butter, vanilla, and salt. Mix well.

Pour over your popcorn and toss/mix/coat very gently but thoroughly and here's your finished product- yumm!

Cookie Butter Popcorn
-1/2 cup popcorn kernels, popped (air popper, in a pot- just no toppings)
-1/3 cup white sugar
-1/2 cup honey & corn syrup, adjust ratios to your taste
-1/2 cup cookie butter (I used Biscoff brand)
-1/2 teaspoon vanilla
-1/4 teaspoon salt, or to your taste
Put sugar, honey, and corn syrup in a metal pot (not non-stick!) and stir over medium heat until melted together fully.
Pull off of heat and quickly add cookie butter, vanilla, and salt- stir well.
Pour mixture over your popcorn in one very large bowl or two large bowls- it’s good to have room to maneuver here.
Mix the popcorn and the cookie butter topping well, but very gently- I like to use two forks.
Store airtight, and enjoy!

Savor it!
love, rue

Waffled Cinnamon Rolls

Hi there everyone!

This is more of an idea than a recipe- I mean, I totally "cheated" and used cinnamon rolls out of a tube- fast and cheap because I bought them at the discount store Grocery Outlet. Anyway, it's also an encouragement to use your kitchen tools creatively- your waffle iron is not just for waffles. So the BF and I decided it would be a great idea to take the cinnamon rolls we had grabbed up for fun and waffle them to see how that turned out- great! You should totally give it a shot- just waffle your cinnamon rolls on a well greased iron- simple as it sounds- let me show you!

Ingredients: cinnamon rolls from a tube, oil for the waffle iron, and you also need a waffle iron of course! This one is Belgian style.

Grease up the waffle iron, then put your cinnamon rolls on there!

Take them off when they've firmed up and seem cooked (this is not the conventional way of cooking, so use your best judgement- don't eat if the dough is gooey, for example).

Drizzle on your icing and enjoy a fun snack- way more fun, fast, and easy than making them in the oven- I've done this a couple of times since then because it really is a great way to make them!

Savor it!
love, rue